Broken Niel

Penny didn't want to look good, she didn't need to and had no-one to look good for. no longer did she put make-up on, her hair hadn't been brushed in god knows how long and a thin fur coat had grown on her teeth. A few months ago, Her boyfriend, Niel, had been at the pub with his mates, he called her to say he would be home around eleven and that was the last time she ever heard his voice.



She remember that night and the following day vividly although it seemed to have a dreamlike quality to it, she had sat up untill three oclock. Unlike most other people she could not assume that he had gotten pissed and stayed with one of his mates because he didn't drink; he hadn't since cleaning up his act six years ago. He went to the pub to spend some time with his friends and escape the rat race for a while, and he had never in those six years given her cause to worry.

She was worried now.

Eventually falling into a fitfull sleep she had one of those lucid dreams we all experiance from time to time; she heard the key turn opening the lock in the front door and felt such relief that she could'nt possibly be angry with him, she walked on to the landing meaning to run down the stairs but found that the air was actually thick, or maybe it was her subconcious trying to pull her away; away from what? danger? something that she could not cope with?

Pulling herself along the banister, not fully realising that this situation had an unreal air about it, she smiled, trying to get around the corner of the stairway to reach Niel. She could hear him walking into the front room, taking of his jacket and throwing it on the back of the settee, making a 'thwump' sound that only leather makes. Slowly inching her way nearer and nearer to the lounge she noticed a cracking sound that wasn't familiar, as if branches were being trod on, she could smell an acrid stench that had hit her like a bullet, and only really sensed it when it had fully worked it's way inside her lungs and nostrils, every fibre of her body including her taste buds was filled of that damp cloth, sulpher and rotten meat aroma.



Penny could hear Niel coming toward the bottom of the stairs, in a couple of seconds he would be coming around the corner and facing her, she was suddenly gripped by sheer panic, pure unadulterated panic. She knew there was no real reason for feeling this way but something in the sound of his movement, something in that smell that she knew had come in with him told her to get up those few stairs as fast as she could, get into their bedroom and push anything heavy against the door. Yet a voice in her mind was screaming 'this is what you've been waiting for all night, you're lover to come home, so love him.' She could feel tendrills of sweat tickling the nape of her neck and lying heavily above her upper lip, her hair was laid flat against her forehead, wet and cold. She pulled on the banister in the other direction this time, not knowing what the hell was going on, but he was faster. The cracking sound was broken bones, she just knew that, she knew that for a fact.

Niel was moving faster than ever, she didnt want to look behind her because what ever was there was not 'right', not natural, in the second that this information took to fleet through her brain he was right there at her back. She stopped still, there seemed no point in rushing now, whatever it was, it was not Niel and it had easily caught up to her.

In a scared, very weak little voice she said "Niel?"  no reply, only a rasping sound of laboured breathing met her ears.

"Niel?"  What the hell was she doing 'I need to run, no matter what I need to give myself that chance' she found the air was no longer like melted toffee and she darted ahead, just a split second before she had, a clawed hand had almost gripped her shoulder. A little scream escaped as she reached the top landing, she could hear it shuffling at an unearthly pace, she could hear it's panting, gritty breath as if it had smoked a thousand cigarrettes a day for a thousand years.

She reached the door and grasped the handle. for what seemed like an eternity, it wouldn't turn, she strained against the force that was keeping the handle from letting her get to safety and the door gave way, she flew inside the bedroom and in a moment of utter horrer realised she would have to leave the door to go get something heavy to keep it shut.

It seemed she had no choice but to stand up against it and hope it was weaker than it's speed gave it credit for, she expected it to come crashing through any second, in her minds eye seeing splinters of wood flying in every direction, herself on the floor, facing the creature and backing away as it gloated over it's new prey, strands of saliva dripping from it's fanged teeth that jutted from a red slash of a mouth, in anticipation of it's latest meal.

But, the crash against the door never came, the creature from the black lagoon never came, all that happened is that she sat straight up in bed, she could hear screaming, it was her own. Her nighty clinged to her like a wet shroud, as her breathing gradually slowed and her heart gave way to a more normal rythym, she should have been relieved, the relief you feel when you escape from the horror film your own mind decided to treat you to, but it wasn't there. She was still terrified.

The morning light came barging through the window as per usual, throwing back the covers she rememberd with a heavy dismay that Niel hadnt come home last night, the house was so quiet, he hadnt came back during the night iethier.

Like a bolt from hell her nightmare came flooding back, not in bits as some do, but all at once, every last terrible second of it. She swung her legs out of bed and went into the bathroom, her nighty stank of stale sweat and her hair felt damp and matted. Peeling her nightware off she turned on the shower, she thought she might feel better after a good shower.

Stepping into the basin and feeling the cool water caressing her skin felt so good, her heart was still heavy, her stomouch still in a tight knot because Niel hadn't come home and she just knew something was very wrong.

A slight stinging sensation yanked her from her thoughts, she looked sideward towrd were she felt it and her stomouch now lurched, there were four small red indents, from the tips of those claws when the thing had tried to grab her backward.

Penny shook her head 'Dont be so stupid, it was a dream. You had a bad dream because you were fretting about Niel, they're just scratches you did yourself when you were flayling about with night terrors.' even as the idea of that scenario was passing through her mind, she knew it wasn't true...